


The Wright Direction

by goldenserpents



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Minor Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Minor Lavender Brown/Ron Weasley, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 13:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenserpents/pseuds/goldenserpents
Summary: Wynona Wright has always kept herself to herself. No she is not a loner OR lonely but she does enjoy her own company more often than that of others. However, something hasn't been right since the end of her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she is starting to think that she might be involved somehow.Copyright notice - all canon HP characters, names, objects etc. belong to J K Rowling; any original characters like Wynona Wright, belong to me.
Relationships: Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy & Original Female Character(s), Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter & Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown/Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Susan Bones/Neville Longbottom
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress so please be patient with updates. This is also being updated on Wattpad where my username is also goldenserpents. :)

The night air was dry and cold, and the woods were pitch black. The only sound was a light wind passing through the trees.

She breathed heavily as she moved quickly through the dark space. She was under the impression they were still following her, so she kept up her pace. Someone was definitely hot on her tail though as when she stopped for breath, the sound of voices whispering was not far away.

She couldn't keep this up much longer as she would soon grow weary and they would catch up with her.

Why were they following her? It only started at the beginning of the summer. Some strange dark figures were gathering outside her house every night as if they were waiting for her. Her grandmother never noticed so when it finally got too scary one night and they had actually moved much closer to the front door, she had decided to run out the back door and into the woods.

And that is where she finds herself now – running through the dark woods in the middle of the night.

She reached a clearing, or what felt like a clearing from the sheer mass of space. She was starting to run out of options and places to run to. She felt them gaining distance on her. Sighing, she turned slowly as she now started to see how close they actually were. Closing her eyes, she slowly raised her arms with her palms horizontal in the direction of her pursuers. Her breaths were shallow but calm.

Without any other thoughts, bright white lights spurted fiercely from her palms, hitting the runners and knocking them flat over. She counted four of them, all lying unconscious on the ground. Her breath hitched for a second, but she regained her balance and walked slowly away from them.

After about a four- or five-minute walk, she decided she was far enough away from the clearing, and she sat down on a nearby log. Tears were streaming silently down her face by this time, her wet face glistening in the moonlight. She once more lifted her palms gently, aiming her at a pile of twigs, whispering "_Incendio".  
  
_

* * *

  
Wynona Wright was as early as ever for the train back to school, so she sat patiently, book in hand, in an unoccupied carriage. Students were already bustling back and forth along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, however she knew there would still be more to come.

At about 10.45AM, Wynona looked out of the window to see that platform 93/4 was chock-a-block with families of wizards and witches, of all shapes and sizes. She smiled but couldn't help but feel a little sad that her grandmother couldn't have made the journey with her, although it was her idea that she stayed at home. "You needn't come with me Mor, you should rest here and look after the dogs." Wynona's grandmother was old and liked dogs. They had five at home. However, Wynona liked cats much more, but was never allowed to have one due to her grandmother's love of canines.

Wynona was an only child and never knew her parents. Well, she knew _of _her mother but not personally. Mor would always tell her how much she looked like her mother, but she had the cheek of her father. Wynona got the impression that when Mor spoke of her father she had little if any love for him. He sounded like a rascal and that is probably why Wynona always secretly liked him more than Mor would have liked.

Wynona's reading was interrupted when someone had made their way into her carriage. She looked briefly out of the window to check the time – 10.58, they would be leaving soon – then turned to see who had joined her. She recognized the boy as Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor house. She had always spotted him in the greenhouses, and they had always shared a smile, so she didn't mind sharing the journey with him.

He looked up and made eye contact with her – they both smiled and then returned to what they were previously doing. In Wynona's case that was her reading.

An hour or so had passed by the time the lady with the trolley had made her way to their carriage. "Anything from the trolley my loves?" Both Wynona and Neville looked up at the same time to the sound of her question. Neville looked back into the carriage at Wynona in a way to offer she make her order first. Wynona smiled and said: "a pumpkin pasty and some sherbet lemon please."

The lady handed over Wynona's order in exchange for exact change, and then turned to Neville who also asked for a pumpkin pasty as well. As she left, Neville looked contemplatively into his pasty before clearing his throat and saying: "my gran says that pumpkin pasties are the best snack for a long journey like this. Full of energy and keeps you going until the great feast." He looked up to see if Wynona had noticed him speaking, which she had. Wynona smiled at him and saw that he was in fact nervous to be making conversation, so she decided to help.

"My grandmother says exactly the same thing. In fact, she was convinced the ones on the train were lined with extra sugar so that the first years would stay awake until midnight, but I always thought that it was excitement that kept them up."

Neville laughed lightly. Seeing this as a positive response to his conversation starter, Neville continued. "I'm Neville by the way, it's awkward because I don't think we have ever spoken but I see you around a lot – you're friends with Susan, right?"

He was referring to Susan Bones, who yes was Wynona's friend, but they hardly spent that much time together anymore. They were in some of the same classes, like Potions and Astronomy, but apart from that and occasionally sitting together at mealtimes, they hardly interacted. It was sad really, Wynona thought. She did like Susan as she was only one of the really genuine girls in their year Hufflepuff. Yes, all the Hufflepuff fifth years, well sixth years as of today, were nice and polite and kind, but they all seemed as if they were hiding something or were often rude and stuck up.

"Yes – I mean – we sometimes have lunch together and we go to Potions together, but I don't really talk to her much anymore as there's rarely time. She is really nice though," she said with a smile. She then added – "You're quite fond of her, aren't you?" She knew this may have pushing the conversation slightly but that cheek she got from her father and genuine curiosity had kicked in.

He blushed a light pink. "Well, yes. We do a lot of projects together in Herbology – she is quite good you know."

They continued talking for quite some time, but then Neville returned to reading the Daily Prophet and Wynona returned to her book. After another 50 minutes or so, they started to see a faint glowing, which told them they would soon be approaching Hogwarts.

"I better go and put my robes on – see you at the feast later." Wynona got up and took the backpack she had brought with her off the shelf. Stuffing her book and remnants of pumpkin pasty in the front pocket, she headed off to get changed.   
  


The Great Hall was already filling up when Wynona had reached its doors. She looked around, happy to finally be back to the grounds she loved so much. She thought briefly of the afternoons she could spend reading under the trees by the lake this term and the Astronomy project they would inevitably be starting in preparation for their N.E.W.T exams next year.

Slowly making her way through a crowd of Ravenclaw second years loudly squealing about how amazing it was to be back at school, she headed towards the Hufflepuff table to find a seat. Ironically, seeing an empty seat next to Susan Bones filled her with a sense of relief, and she headed hastily towards it. Sitting down she was greeted by a friendly smile and 'Hello how was your summer?' from her and the few other nameless girls sitting with her.

Wynona sat quietly and remained so until others filled spaces around her on the Slytherin table and behind her the Gryffindor table. Across the hall, she recognised the faces of her classmates Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. They caught her eye and flashed her cheeky grin and waves to which she responded to with a happy smile.

As the sorting of the first years commenced, Wynona continued to look around the room and see some gaps here and there, where students hadn't yet returned or were just late. However, a couple of minutes after the sorting had finished and the hat was taken out of the great hall, two familiar figures had made their way into the room. One was Luna Lovegood and the other was Harry Potter, neither of whom Wynona knew very well but by acquaintance.

Harry was holding a bloody handkerchief up to his nose and gained some odd looks from around the room. He sat down slowly joining his usual bunch of friends.

"Nice face Potter!" someone jeered from the Slytherin table. Wynona looked over sharply to see who had shouted it. She panned over to the usual gang of meddlers and was right when she saw a triumphant Crabbe high-fiving those around him. Wynona looked at all of them disapprovingly until she stopped on one face that wasn't interacting with them at all, but off in another distant world.

Draco Malfoy sat with his head in his hands as Headmaster Dumbledore had started his speech. He looked pale and cold and his eyes seemed empty and somewhat sad. Wynona couldn't help but stare and contemplate what might be so sad... But she was soon interrupted when she saw eyes staring back at her. Draco was turning slightly pink and his eyes seemed to regain colour. Wynona broke their gaze quickly and turned to the front.

"Are you alright Wyn? You just put your elbow in my soup." Susan looked worriedly at her. Nodding Wynona said, "Yes of course – I'm fine don't worry!"

Obviously unconvinced, Susan turned back to watch the rest of Dumbledore's speech and Wynona sat there wishing for the speech to come to an end so she could retreat to the warm vicinity of her dorm room. 


	2. Chapter Two

The next morning, most of the sixth years made their ways down to the main corridors, mostly to watch the first years run around panicking about where their lessons were being held, but others trying to locate their heads of house to enquire about changes to timetables.

Wynona had received her sixth year timetable the previous night and had already committed it partly to memory. She had Transfiguration at 11.00, then an hour study period in Professor Flitwick's classroom, then lunch, then Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon. She had memorised up to Wednesday afternoon, as that was quidditch try-outs and practice, and then after that she had to refer to her timetable. She was also excited to find out that the school had opened up Alchemy classes for those in the sixth and seventh year who had the grade requirements and the most interest, so she hoped to be chosen for those too.

The morning sped on fairly quickly and soon Wynona found herself sitting next to a fellow Hufflepuff girl that she'd known the face of for years, but could never quite remember her name (seeing as they hadn't ever had a conversation longer than 'Hello', 'How are you?' and 'How was your summer?'). The girl smiled politely at Wynona as they both unpacked their bags, taking out parchment and their textbooks.

Professor McGonagall appeared almost out of thin air at the front of the classroom, giving Parvati Patil who sat in the front row a fright. The Hufflepuffs did Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, so it was no surprise that when Wynona felt something lightly hit the back of her head, she turned to face Dean and Seamus sniggering at her. She stuck her tongue out in reply and made a quick mental note to catch up with them properly later. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the usual late comers to this class had made their way to their seats - those regular late comers being Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Not before they had finished their hushed conversation did the class actually begin.

McGonagall's classes were always interesting, so Wynona wasn't bored at all. However, she kept hearing hushed whispers coming from Dean and Seamus, and at one point heard her own name, so longed for the lesson to be over so she could interrogate them.

That was her secret. Dean and Seamus.

She had few friends, but they were two of her best. She was the brains behind many of their hijinks, had sometimes been recruited by them to work with the infamous Weasley twins as well, who she recalled had now opened their own shop. How wonderful, she thought. There was a time in their fourth year where Dean and Seamus invited her to sneak off to Hogsmeade with them at a time that was not permitted, so she had forged them all sick notes from Madam Pomfrey, something she was very proud of and only a bit ashamed.

Just as she had drawn herself out of her daydream, she had enough time to catch McGonagall telling them the homework and write it down before everyone packed up to leave. However, as she leaned over to grab her bag from the floor, she felt someone perch on her desk. Looking up, she saw Seamus' grinning face.

"We missed you Wyn!"

She laughed and stood up to hug both of them.

"And I you! You have to tell me what you got up to over the summer - tell me everything!"

Seamus giggled.

"Well we should probably start with the fact that Dean's got himself a girlfriend, don ‘he."

Dean had a small smirk on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. A pang hit Wynona in her chest - it was not news to her that she had been harbouring a crush on Dean Thomas since their third year. She thought she had managed to suppress it, but when he invited her to the Yule Ball two year previously, the feelings had always been there just dormant.

"Well I never - Mr Dean Thomas off the market? And who might I ask is the unlucky girl?" She pushed through using humour as her defence mechanism.

Dean blushed, and Seamus answered for him.

"None other than Ginny-bloody-Weasley. I'm surprised Ron hasn't killed you yet."

Wynona thought of the ginger boy confronting Dean about dating his sister, and she agreed with Seamus that it was surprising that he hadn't yet killed him.

They chatted a bit longer before filing out of the classroom with the rest of the students. Wynona headed in the direction of Flitwick’s classroom for her study period. She only knew one other person in that session, and it was Susan, so she thought she could sit with her, however when she got there that seat was already filled by another girl. There were only two other empty seats in the classroom.

One next to an unnamed Gryffindor girl. One next to Draco Malfoy.

Wynona breathed in deeply and headed towards the Gryffindor, but much to her expected fears, the seat was suddenly taken by a girl she knew from quidditch, Katie Bell.

That meant Wynona had to sit next to Draco.

Great.  
  


* * *

  
The first half of the hour was fine – both students got on with their respective homework in complete separation from each other. However, as it got to the forty-five-minute mark, Draco stopped writing all together and stared at his parchment.

Wynona hadn’t entirely noticed until the writing on his parchment had caught his eye. He had been writing an essay for Flitwick it had seemed about the importance of defensive charms, but halfway down the page Draco’s writing had slurred as if it was having some sort of fit.

The slurred writing that she saw read:

_I can’t do it. Don’t make me do it. I can’t do it. Don’t make me do it. _

Naturally this alarmed Wynona, but as they were sitting in the middle of the Charms classroom, with at least twenty other students surrounding them, she didn’t find any confidence to confront him. That said, she had no idea how he would react even if she did.

Her gaze then fixed on the side of his face. He was fixated; in a trance. His eyes a pale, cold blue, piercing the parchment as if he were trying to destroy it with his vision. She heard his breathing getting shallower by each breath, as if he were gearing up to have a panic attack.

For the second time in her life she found herself worried about Draco Malfoy.

The first time had been two and a half years ago in their third year, when she found Draco close to tears in an abandoned corridor, with a bloodied nose.  
  



	3. Chapter Three

She could hear sniffling. It was coming from the sixth floor of the Hogwarts’ north-west tower. Wynona was up there as she knew it was a good place to get peace and quiet when reading, but obviously this person found it as place of refuge from something upsetting.

Turning a corner, she found the face of someone she really didn’t expect to see crying. Pale skin; cold, pale eyes; platinum blonde hair.

Draco Malfoy.

She approached him slowly, natural concern growing (despite him being who he was) when she saw the blood on his face and on the collar of his shirt.

The only other time that she had spoken to Draco was when he had accidentally bumped into her earlier that year, and he had been surprisingly polite about it. But this was bound to be a completely different type of interaction.

Her foot scuffed on the floor, the sound of which alerted Draco that he wasn’t alone.

“What the hell do _you_ want?” he said venomously.

Wynona swallowed hard before answering. “I heard sniffling so came to make sure you were alright. And then I saw” she gestured to the blood dripping out of his nose.

He had grown fairly pale in the face, it had seemed, probably from the loss of blood from his nose. Wynona took his following silence as an invitation to go closer, and as she did, she drew out two things from inside her robes: a small white handkerchief, which she handed to Draco to mop up his nose, and her wand. She took her wand and held it in front of his face. His eyes grew wide.

“What are you going to do with that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Your nose is broken and so I am going to fix it.”

He shuffled backwards, handkerchief in hand.

“No, no, it’s perfectly fine. _I_ am fine.”

“Do you want to grow older with a crooked nose Draco?”

The use of his name seemed to calm him slightly. He met her gaze directly as if looking for malice in her eyes. He found none. That was the one thing he _did_ know about Wynona. She was nice. To everything and everyone.

“Fine. Do it.”

Wynona cleared her throat.

“_Episky._” She flourished her wand as she spoke, and they both heard a tremendous _crack_.

Draco groaned lightly, prodding his nose gently. He looked up at her in slight disbelief.

“Thanks” he started timidly. “How did you know to do that?”

“My grandmother was a healer. She has a load of spells up her sleeve, and I was prone to injury a lot as a kid.” She laughed quietly. Draco looked at her bemusedly.

“I liked climbing trees, but gravity didn’t much like me. She had to mend a few broken arms in her time.”

They then sat for a few moments in silence. Wynona had expected Draco to get up and leave, as he usually wasn’t polite enough to even say _thank you_ let alone stay for a longer conversation.

“Who did _that_ to you then?” asked Wynona, deciding to break the silence.

“That filthy mud – “Draco started to mutter under his breath but finished: “Granger.”

Wynona understood that to be Hermione Granger, their year Gryffindor. She knew her to be a rather polite girl, if not regularly outspoken, but never violent.

“You must have really pushed her buttons for her to have done that to you! I thought you were going to say one of those meat heads you skulk around with finally had enough of your nonsense and wrapped their fist around your face.”

Draco stared at her, dumbfounded. She spoke so freely – he had always known her to be extremely quiet, at least in the classes he shared with her. He was surprised she was being so nonchalant with him, despite barely knowing him.

“You shouldn’t call her that though. You know that, right?”

Draco looked at her earnestly. He _did_ know he shouldn’t call her that, but it’s what his father had taught him. That Purebloods and Muggle-borns were _not _equal – that he was Granger’s superior.

He shrugged it off, not wanting to get too friendly with Wynona.

“Whatever. I don’t care about it anyway. She’s not my friend.”

“Ha! Maybe because you call her names, and not very nice ones.”

“What do you know? You don’t have any friends.”

Wynona was shocked. She was always _personally _content with her own company, but it seemed like the rest of the world didn’t feel the same way. Draco noticed he had offended her and decided to do something that was very unlike him.

_Apologise._

“I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it like that. I was just- I’m just…” he sighed.

“Angry.”

Wynona looked him in the eyes and _did_ see regret. She always had a theory about Draco that the way he thought and the beliefs he had were because of his family, and not him. He seemed like a smart boy – high enough grades, favourite student to the likes of Snape. He also seemed to be quite popular amongst those of his own house, not to mention the affections of several Slytherin third years she had overheard talking in the girls’ bathroom one time.

She smiled sweetly.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind being alone. It’s peaceful. That’s why I came up here.”

She stood up and made her way over to the opposite window. Looking out she sighed happily.

“I can see so far from up here and imagine a world full of adventure and surprise.”

They were silent again for a few minutes before she remembered where she was and with whom. She spun around on her heel and faced him again. He was staring at her with eyes full on intrigue and interest. It made Wynona blush hard.

“I should be going.” Wynona turned to walk away but Draco spoke out.

“Wait! What about your handkerchief?” He held it up in the air. It was very bloody by now.

She laughed and smiled at him.

“I think you can keep it.”

Then she left. Draco smiled slightly, perhaps one of the first times out of genuine content. He placed the bloody handkerchief in his lap and looked at it fondly. In the corner was a delicate monogram with Wynona’s initials.

_W.W._


End file.
